


Re:Xistensia: The Dimensional Bridge

by JoeyLikesFish



Series: Sea of Existence: Collected Stories and Events [1]
Category: Ar tonelico, BlazBlue, Final Fantasy VII, Hyperdimension Neptunia, Mother 3
Genre: Action/Adventure, Background Music, Crossover, Gen, Original World, soundtrack
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-16
Updated: 2017-10-16
Packaged: 2019-01-18 08:29:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12384573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoeyLikesFish/pseuds/JoeyLikesFish
Summary: Re:Xistensia is the definitive edition of the tale known as Existensia. With greatly improved writing, more lore, new characters, streamlined battles, and more, this Tale to unite all just got a lot more interesting.Re:Xistensia is a wide-encompassing story with its focus on an Amnesiac boy named Claus and his quest for self-discovery and a Maiden named Suzunomia, whose songs contain great power.With new companions at their side, they must make their separate journies to find what truth and secrets hide in the mystical and beautiful continent known as "The Dimensional Bridge".





	1. Re:Xistensia: The Dimensional Bridge: The Alpha

(BGM: Ar Tonelico II OST: Omoi (Feelings)

Life. Death. Origin. To Cease. Purpose. Truth.

These are all words that are ingrained in us as living beings. The question whenever something greater exists outside of our mortal reach. Is there a life after this one? Or is every living being cursed to one day fade and cease to be? This is a question that we will never know the answer to, but what if we are not alone in this search for answers. From a greater perspective, we and our planet are collectively only a small speck of dust in our galaxy, which in turn is only an even smaller part of our universe. But what if our universe is one of the several equally massive spirals of worlds, just like ours?

All of these different universes form a space called a "Dimension". Our Dimension is not the only one out there. Those that have managed to break the limits of our existence and have seen what is beyond knows that there is a state of unlimited and infinite possibilities. Those who have discovered this never-ending canvas of stars and universes call it, "The Great Sea of Existence".

No two worlds are the same, as the variables are virtually endless, no matter how strong the similarities. There is only one thing that all that has ever been created in the Great Sea share in common, and that is one rule. All that is created must cease to exist. When a life comes to an end, they lose their sense of self and awareness, but this is because the soul is separated from its corporeal form. All souls without a shell are drawn to a location that exists outside the boundary of any known world, said to exist in the exact center of the Great Sea.

That is a mythical place where all lost and deceased souls converge to seek rest and rejuvenation. A place where those who have left us a cleansed and reborn. The new souls then eagerly wait to find a new creation which they can grant life too. No single entity truly dies this way, and those who have spread terror and sorrow in their lives are given a chance to become someone capable of great good. The balance of life and death in The Great Sea, and the location where the souls are cleansed share a common name. The Cycle of Souls.

The Cycle is said to have existed before time itself, and now, very soon, one soul in this Cycle is about to be woken for a very rare occasion.  
What is about to be told is The Story of Existensia, The Dimensional Bridge, as several beings are about to be united in one a journey of unforeseen wonder and danger.

This is Existensia!

A tale that transcends the boundary of worlds!

 

The very beginning, The Cycle

(BGM: Flow - 01 - Birth)

The souls that somehow remember the Cycle recall slowly floating around a very calm and serene sea floor, with a calm sea above which reveals the gentle rays of a sun trickling through the surface. The rays give a sense of relief and calm, and many burdened souls can feel their chains slowly letting go. The sole population of this sea floor is small lights that slowly float around in peace. Every light sees themselves as the form they had before death, but others can only see the slight reflections of the shining lights around them.

Among of all of these lights floated a translucent boy with his arms outstretched, his eyes were closed, as he drifted into a peaceful slumber. Like all souls that were there, he did not remember who he was, or why he had passed on. He just basked in the moment of deep peace he found himself in. He breathed slowly and peacefully as other lights reached out for the surface. Those were souls that were content. 

The boy stopped in his tracks as he felt an ethereal and warm feeling surrounding his very being. He opened his closed eyes slowly as he heard a calm voice speaking to him. "Claus." called the gentle voice out to the boy it embraced. "Have you awoken from your slumber?" The boy fully opened its emerald eyes and nodded. This voice belonged to the only other figure that the boy had lied its eyes on, ever since he had gained sentience. Trough it was a completely new impression for him, the voice felt safe and reassuring. It was... maternal. 

The boy slowly nodded in response to the question. "That is very good." answered the warm voice. "As you know, you will soon wake up to a whole new life, filled with possibilities and happiness. It will also be filled with strife, hardship, and injustice, but I believe you will become someone great when you reach the surface." The boy clutched to the arms that embraced it. He knows this wondrous sensation of relief and fulfillment would soon end, as his time for reincarnation grew close. "Claus, do you have a last wish before your next life?" asked the voice while looking down at the boy. He whispered a few intelligible words towards the figure.

"You want me to follow you to the surface before we part ways? Of course, Claus." answered the voice as its embrace grew wider to lift the boy. The boy saw the surface approaching as his body almost naturally gravitated towards it. "Be safe, be fortunate, and most importantly, may your new life bring you happiness." The arms released the boy as he could almost touch the surface. "Claus, for me to have been able to hold you again... Find a great life out there, and I wish you all the best. My beloved son..." said the voice as it faded away while the boy's hand reached above the surface.


	2. RE:Xistensia: The Dimensional Bridge: The First Steps

(BGM: Pokemon- Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Sky- Beach At Dusk- Music)  
  
The world works in funny ways from time to time. Waves brushed over the lonely beach as dawn approached. The beach was surrounded by high rock formations, connected by mighty ropes to create a series of stunning towers in the area. Just a few steps away from the beach laid a densely forested grassland, with vermillion dew slowly dripping from the leaves. The beach was wide, yet very thin, with shells, creatures, and an occasional one or two washing up as the waves crawled back towards the ocean that created them. This scene's silence got interrupted by light steps in the sand.   
  


(BGM: Kingdom Hearts- Destiny Island)

Several steps followed in quick succession after each other as living being clearly ran around, scoping out the environment. These steps belong to a perky girl with light-purple eyes and amethyst hair. Her eyes were big and bright, and her dork-ish grin was wide. She wore a small white crop top hoodie over a purple, short summer dress. She also wore two knee-high socks, and a pair of purple sneakers. Her name was-  
  
-"Wait, wait, wait! Hold the phone, you guys! If you really wanted to describe me and my neat looks, why didn't you all ask me to do it?" blurted the girl out in the blue. She posses a special ability and awareness of the world around her that many find difficult to understand. She calls it "breaking the fourth wall". "That's me, all right!" said the girl with cheer. "Yo, narrator, mind if I take over the descriptions for a while?"   
Sure.  
  
Hiya, all of you adorable people out there! My name is Neptune, and I am off-duty from my day job. What is my work, I hear you ask? Well, not to sound self-important, or anything, but I just happen to be a CPU, short for Console Patron Unit. Or if you are just a regular JoeMcgee, I'm a goddess!   
Neptune is probably one of the youngest and least convincing goddesses in the Sea of Existence- "Narrator thingamabob,  I'm telling you the truth, you big grump! And give me back that thing!"  said Neptune to thin air, all in a joking and dorkish matter.  
   
I know it's hard to imagine a free-spirited ball of energy like lil' me being a goddess, but you'll see one day. Actually, who cares? Anyway, I'm kind of lost at the moment. I just found this really neat beach right here, and it's really rad, but I doubt that this is anywhere near my home. And there are no signs or directions anywhere, either. I could be worse. I have no friends or family around me, I'm alone, and my crackers won't last for an eternity. But. This beach has some wicked cool waves, and what more can you ask for in life?  
  
We have trees, waves, crabs, mini mountains, unconscious bodies and- What?!  
Neptune suddenly snapped out of her borderline psychotic cheerfulness as she noticed a body that lay still by the water. "Is that a... dead guy?" said Neptune with reasonable concern.  
  
  
_The Encounter_  
  
  
(BGM: Pokemon- Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Sky- In Depths Of The Pits- Music)  
    
  
Neptune made her way across the beach she walked to the body that lay without motion. As she got closer, she saw that the body belonged to a boy with subdued orange hair, and closed eyes. Neptune's curiosity rose slightly. The boy looked peaceful in his stillness, and Neptune started to doubt whenever he was dead or just unconscious. He was dressed in a black jacket with a white collar, and he wore simple brown shoes, and also an abominable piece of clothing that somehow remained Neptune of something distant she couldn't grasp. Horrid orange cargo pants.  
  
She knew that this was a sin against fashion, but something about them just felt familiar. Like she had met someone important dressed like that once. A Deja vu, perhaps? Neptune went down on her knees beside the body and tilted her head to the side to see if she could hear any breathing. "The kid is alive." said Neptune with a smile. She said "Hey, dead guy, can you hear me?" The boy flinched when he registered the sound. "His ears seem fine. A light kick should do the rest of the work." Neptune gave the boy a very restrained shove of a kick.  
  
The boy turned over and slowly started to open his eyes. He saw the faintest form of a girl beside him as he opened his eyes. He drew a deep yawn, as if he had slept over several days, and adjusted his eyes to the brightness. He felt the sand that had gotten stuck in his hair, and his cheek that faced the warm beach. He reached out his hands towards Neptune to see if he could touch anything. His hand met hers as he weakly grabbed it. He breathed deeply again and adjusted his eyes as he stared at Neptune.   
  
"U-ugh..." said the boy meekly. Neptune smiled in return. "Hey there, little guy. Is taking naps on the beach common around here? In that case, invite me over sometime!" Neptune looked at the boy, who used his arms to help him sit up. He saw a fistful of sand trickle out of his right hand as he rose up. "What's your name, kiddo?" asked Neptune with excitement. "It's... Claus... Claus." said the boy, especially determined at the third time, as if he was 100% sure.  
  
Claus. Neptune felt an eerily familiar feeling swoop over her. This boy was an enigma in many ways. Though he did not seem completely connected to reality, he knew his name with certainty. Who was he, really? "You got sand all over your threads," said Neptune. "Oh..." said Claus as he saw his sand covered jacket.   
  


(BGM: Persona 4 OST New Days)

Claus stood straight up, facing the ocean. He unzipped his jacket and took it off. He started to shake it furiously with both hands, creating a massive cloud of sand around him. Claus wore a black t-shirt underneath. As he shook his jacket, a silvery object fell out. "You dropped something there, buddy." said Neptune as she picked up the short silver stick. It looked like a handle of some kind. Claus looked at the handle has Neptune held it. "I... don't recognize it. I don't think it's mine." Neptune threw the handle to Claus. He reacted with the speed of a brick wall. The handle hit him right in the head. Claus fell backward without warning. "Oh. My. Gosh. Did I just end his life?" said Neptune. 

"Oww..." mumbled Claus as he winced in the sand. Neptune extended her hand to Claus. "I'm really sorry about that. Here, let me get you back up." said Neptune as she dragged Claus up on his feet. Claus scratched his forehead and then said "I didn't really hurt that much. I just... blacked out for a moment." He then looked like he was in deep thought. "My name is Claus... Who are you?" asked Claus after a few seconds. "Me? Took your sweet tucking time asking, Clausers. I am Neptune! Goddess of Planeptune, and most adorbes mascot of Gameindustri!"

"Neptune... I was just curious about your name. It feels like I have... met you somewhere before. Pretty strange, right?" said Claus with as much carefreeness he could muster, which was not much. Neptune recoiled for a split-second. "No flip-flopping way..." said Neptune. She was rather spooked that her feelings of remembrance weren't just hers. This kid recognized her, somehow. "Neptune? Can I ask you something?" said Claus meekly. "Sure. Ask away. Youth is a time for learning and training!" said Neptune, as she for some reason, tried to comically imitate an old man.

"Do you... have any idea where we are right now? I just can't remember where this beach is supposed to be..." said Claus. "Oh, boogers. I thought that maybe YOU knew. I'm crap out of luck. Sigh." said Neptune. "You don't know, either? That's understandable, I guess. Why would the first person I met on a beach know all the answers?" said Claus with a slight sulk. "Don't get down so quickly, Clauserino! We sure won't find out anything if we stay in this sandy space of potential suntan and volleyball. There are some of them grass plains just ahead, and I think my eye can spy a forest a little further away. If we are lucky, maybe we'll meet a wise and old Mystic in the forest, who just happens to conveniently know everything about this island. That sounds like a plan, right?" Claus nodded. "That... sounds like it could be fun!" said Claus as he started to ease up a little to Neptune's relentless attitude. 

Claus got dressed in his jacket, and picked up the silver handle that he had mysteriously carried with him. "We just need to get up this small ridge to get up to the grassy place." said Neptune. Claus looked up the small height. "I'm not sure I can climb that high..." said Claus with hesitation. "That's no reason to not try! Claus, how about this? You stand right in front of me, and I will use your stunning figure to boost myself up so that I can easily get on top of that cliff. And then, I can drag you up, too. Amazing plan, amiright?" said Neptune with a wink. "You sound really confident with your plan. It might work... so let's try it." said Claus. "So first, we will..." said Neptune as she started to climb up on Claus shoulders. "Just stand still buddy, you are doing great! And don't look up right now." said Neptune as she stood on Claus' shoulders. "Why?" asked Claus as he felt his shoulders tremble. 

"Nah, you can if you really want to. It's just that... some people might react if they saw a boy look up a girl's dress." "I don't get it." said Claus blankly. Neptune heaved herself up the cliff we relative ease. "I'm up now. I'm going to reach out my hand to grab you. Are you ready?" said Neptune as she, lying down, reached out with her hand as far forward as she could. Claus grabbed her hand firmly. "You are just jumping at the chance to hold hands, aren't ya?" said Neptune as teasing. Claus completely missed her verbal gesture. Neptune dragged Claus up, with all of her strength. "Heave ho!!! Shouted Neptune as she, in an impressive display of strength, managed to almost fling Claus upward. Claus landed on top of the ridge beside Neptune. "I'm fine." said Claus with a shudder. Neptune turned around and looked at the lowering open field, covered in high strands of grass. "Goodbye, beach. Hello, beginning to adventure! Wooo! Hype hype hype." said Neptune with excitement. 

"Neptune?" said Claus. "Yeah, Claus?" "Let's make this fun. Last to that forest is a... ground steak!" said Claus as he started to dash forward. Neptune looked with blank amazement. "That kid totally stole my thunder, right there..." Neptune ran after Claus as he got his head-start. He sounded like he was having the time of his life. Neptune ran through the grass to catch up, until a cliche which no adventurer can escape appeared.

RANDOM ENCOUNTER

(BGM: Ar tonelico II - Varna ~ Battle Theme)

Claus stopped dead in his tracks as two creatures appeared from the high grass. 

Two IRATE PURPLE RATs have appeared!

Neptune stopped just beside Claus. Claus looked at two quite small mouse-like rodents with buck teeth, purple fur, and tails standing up with a curl. "Neptune, what is going on?!" asked Claus as the purple rats began to circle around them. "This must be a monster encounter. They usually appear to challenge players, and prevent them from proceeding to the next destination." "What does that even mean?" "I dunno. Fourth wall logic took over again." said Neptune. From almost out of nowhere, Neptune pulled fourth a cyan and purple broadsword, as large as she was. "Claus, you should probably arm yourself, too." "With what?" asked Claus. "Just use that handle thingy that I threw at you before" answered Neptune. Claus took out the silver handle from his jacket, and almost by instinct, held it as a sword. As if by happenstance, a golden ray of light appeared from the handle. " **OHMYGAWD** , It's a laser blade. AWESOME." said Neptune.

One of the rats lunged towards Neptune's back, and as the rat flew closer. Neptune made a sharp turn and swatted away the rat away. The rat rolled over several times but stood up without any major injuries. "Darn it, I can usually one-shot Level 1 rats. Is my sword broken?" said Neptune. Claus avoided a vicious jumping scratch from one of the rats, but the other jumped towards his arm, with its buck teeth ready. Claus felt how the small set of teeth burrowed in his arm and shouted in pain. "Claus!" shouted Neptune as she threw the rat away. "I'm fine. It actually didn't hurt at all." said Claus, with no indication that he was faking his words. Neptune rose her sword to continue the fight. The more eager of the rats lunged itself towards Neptune's face, and she quickly struck down the mini-predator, and then she whacked it with her sword for good measure! The rat squeaked and waddled away from the field. Neptune received EXP and Skill points. Woohoo.   
   
Claus stared down the other rat. Instead of acknowledging its slim chances of victory, it looked pissed. "Raaa!" hissed the rat, as it attacked Claus. Claus took the scratch, and his thoughts were confirmed. The scratch didn't hurt him in the least. The rat was simply to weak to hurt him. "Back to the drawing board with you, rat pack!" said Neptune as she was about to smite the rodent with Neptune fury. Claus shoved the rat to the side, which made Neptune's attack miss completely. "Claus, what gives?!" said Neptune with bafflement. "We are supposed to defeat these guys to grow stronger. How else are we supposed to defeat the bad bosses down the road? Claus gave the rat a light shove with his foot. The rat took massive damage!!! "It can't hurt us. And we shouldn't hurt others. Isn't it faster to declare victory before beating every enemy? I think it knows how the situation looks like now."

The rat begrudgingly admitted its utter defeat, and it summoned a small bag before it. Afterwards, the rat ran off after its brethren.

All enemies were defeated! The loot bag contained: Fresh Mint, EXP and Skill points. Big whoop.

(BGM: 11-Ar tonelico II~Genchou no Mori(Forest of Illusion) )

"Wow, Claus, I had no Idea that you were such a menace to the mice-folk. The little guy really ran for the hills!" said Neptune, impressed with Claus' intimidation of the purple rat. "He even gave you his battle drops. Maybe we could skip fighting altogether, and get items and EXP trough extortion instead!" said Neptune. "Extortion? That sounds like something a villain would do..." said Claus. "But I was glad that I could convince the rat to stop fighting." Neptune put her hand on Claus shoulder. "You did good. If we are lucky, maybe we can "negotiate" our way through more encounters. Show 'em who's boss and then All their base are belongs to us. Eh? Geddit?" said Neptune, trying to force a gaming joke that should have been left in the nineties.

   
"I'm just happy we didn't have to really hurt anything," said Claus with a sigh of relief. "That's great, Claus, but it's weird that you have an awesome laser-doodle, and yet you don't like swinging around laser beams... Some people are really envious right now." Claus stood silent. "Neptune. I'm really excited to see what's up ahead. And I don't want to see it without you. "Aww... Shucks, Claus you are just one big sweetpod, in the end, aren't you?"

These two youths had now created their path forward in this strange and unknown land. Many struggles lie ahead, but if they keep scaring waddling creatures into submission, they might earn the strength they need to face these trials... 


End file.
